Boop
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: Ever since Jean-Baptiste had left Talon, Sombra had kept an eye on him. But that was a leisure that was becoming harder to pursue now.


**Boop**

_There you are._

Was he even trying to stay low? Maybe he underestimated just how many CCTVs there were in the Dominican Republic. Maybe, after crossing the border, he'd forgotten that the Republic wasn't Haiti. Maybe he'd forgotten that Talon didn't forgive, and it didn't forget. Whatever the reason, she was looking at a face she hadn't seen in years. Jean-Baptiste Augustin. Called "Baptiste" in both Talon and the Caribbean Coalition, because when it came to nicknames and codenames, someone, at some point, hadn't been very original. Possibly him – he'd always been the direct type. The good soldier boy who'd kept his men alive through bullets and bandages in the CC, and in Talon, did that as long as he could before he jumped ship. He'd always been one of those insufferable types – the naive do-gooders who saw the world in black and white, who thought they could be a paragon in a world of renegades.

She liked him.

She tiled the frame and enlarged it. The first image wasn't too bad, but this altered one…

"There we go."

Was nice and proper. Good ol' Jean, going about his business, unaware that his former friend looked down on him from on high. Granted, not that she was high right now – the Rome safehouse was dwarfed by the architecture all around it. And while she'd got high in the past, she'd found it wasn't conducive to hacking. Not with her implants. She reached out a hand to the man on the screen…

"Sombra."

And made a small, barely detectable gesture with her fingers. It was enough to get out of the image and into a screen of code. Green. Because of course it was.

"Gabriel," she said, spinning around in the chair. "You look angry."

He just stood there, looking down at the hacker and her terminal.

"Or are you happy? It's hard to tell when you keep wearing that hockey mask."

He just stood there.

"Yeah, like, I know you're thinking something, or mouthing something, but I don't have X-ray vision, so either take off the mask, or start talking."

_Or piss off. That would be fine as well._

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Gabriel murmured.

Sombra didn't say anything. She just sat there, spinning her chair from side to side, doing her best to look nonchalant.

"I need an update," Gabriel said eventually.

"You?" Sombra asked. "Or Akande?"

"Both. And you can drop the use of names."

"Aw, can't I call you Gabriel?"

"I assume at some point when you were a little girl, more stupid than you are now, you chose the name Sombra because you didn't want to use your name in hacker circles."

"And you chose the name Reaper because you're edgy. I get it."

"An update. Now."

Sombra sighed, and with as much exaggeration as she could muster, spun round and gestured to the code on her computer. "It's not that easy, _Reaper_."

"One week."

She glanced back at him. "What?"

"One week ago, I gave you an assignment to crack the firewalls of China's Ministry of State Security. For one week, we've been waiting for an update. One week, we've heard nothing." He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing with enough force to cause Sombra to wince. "You're about to tell me why."

Sombra prized the psychopath's fingers off. "What do you want me to say? Firewalls are up. China's paranoid about hackers."

"I know China's paranoid about hackers, that's why we want you to hack the ministry, steal data, and leave a trail large enough for them to detect, but not so large that they know where it comes from."

"And thus add to the levels of tension in East Asia. I know how geo-politics work."

"And do you know how Talon works? Do you know that when you're given a task, and refuse to do that task, there are consequences?"

"Oh Gabriel," Sombra said. "Do you doubt my loyalty?"

"Yes. But that's irrelevant – I always pegged you as one of those types who doesn't hold to any principle as long as they get to enjoy their work – in your case, breaking into databases and sparking chaos. But now…"

"Now?"

"But now you've slowed down, and I'm beginning to guess why."

Sombra frowned, quickly weighing her options. Option one was that Gabriel was being his usual dark and intimidating self, in which case she had nothing to worry about. Option two was that he did have something on her, in which case, she'd have cause to worry. The man was a mad dog, and if the recent power shift in Talon had shown anything, it was that people like Reaper had no compunction against turning their guns on their fellow comrades.

"Alright," Sombra murmured. She began spinning in her chair again. "You've got guesses. You're doubting me. Maybe they're valid."

"_Maybe_?"

"But what about you?" she asked. "What do you get out of all this?"

Gabriel just stood there.

"Like, you know Akande wants a war, right? His whole survival of the fittest philosophy that's fine with setting the world on fire? What about you? Where do your goals begin and end?"

"This isn't about me."

"Isn't it? Are you really just tall, dark, and ugly, who goes on missions to shoot puppies?"

"I don't shoot puppies. I shoot dogs. Least when fools set them on me, thinking they'll succeed where bullets don't."

"Fair point."

"And speaking of dogs, I know a fair bit about bitches as well."

"Oh, that's harsh," Sombra said, putting a hand to her heart. "But then, fair point. I mean, last Christmas, when you stalked your former-"

He moved fast. Faster than she thought possible, and if nothing else, Reaper could move fast, even without going into that dark cloud form of his. He moved so fast, that she had no time to move at all before his right hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up with strength to match his speed.

"One week," Gabriel whispered.

She tried to speak, but all that came out was a ragged whisper.

"One week, and you've done _nothing_."

"I…" That was all she was able to get out. "I…"

"You are going to give me something. Either it's good news, or an excuse, or an admission. Either way, we're going to stop playing games. You're going to give me something, or I'm going to break your bloody neck."

He dropped her down in the chair. Sombra retched, gasping. Gabriel Reyes, the Reaper, just stood there. Watching over like the angel of his namesake, as if asking "shall I take you yet?"

"I'm not that good," Sombra said. She gestured to the screen. "The firewalls are doing a number on me and-"

"Wrong answer." Gabriel reached for one of his shotguns.

"You said you wanted an admission!"

"A true admission." He took out the weapon, in as far that his hand was one on the hilt, and the weapon unfasted from his belt. "Shall we try again?"

Sombra didn't say anything.

Gabriel sighed. "You're distracted. You don't do good work when you're distracted."

"What-"

He pulled out a small device and clicked it. Sombra didn't know exactly what it was, but she got a sense of what it did. Because as soon as the man before her clicked it, the line of code on her screen was replaced with an image of Jean-Baptiste Augustin.

"Your distraction," Gabriel said. He looked from the image on the screen to the hacker next to it. "Am I correct in saying that?"

"I-"

"No more lies this time. Being in front of a computer screen all your life may have helped your hacking skills, but your social ones need a lot of work."

_I'll show you social skills you masked piece of-_

"Well?" Gabriel asked.

"He is," Sombra murmured.

She hated herself for it. There were a few principles she followed in the world. One of which was to be true to herself. And in a sense, she hadn't broken that principle, because by uttering those two words, she knew that she'd bought herself at least a few more minutes of life. But on the other, she'd betrayed a man. Not an innocent man, far from it, but still…a friend. One of the few people on this planet who could claim such relation to her.

"Jean-Baptiste Augustin," Gabriel murmured. "I know the name. Talon never forgets a traitor."

"Does Overwatch?"

He ignored the jibe. "Not the highest target, especially since the shifts in the inner council, but still, a traitor is a traitor. And Talon deals with traitors in only one way." He looked at her. "Do you know what we do with traitors Sombra?"

"I dunno. You going to demonstrate?"

"I will admit, the thought did cross my mind," he said. He leant down. "Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. Taken three minutes ago." He chuckled. "Why Sombra, I believe you may have made our day."

"What?"

"I mean, China will have to wait, but at least we can get someone to the Dominican Republic and put the traitor in the ground where he belongs."

"No," she whispered.

"No?" Gabriel asked.

"Don't. Please…don't do that."

"Don't put down a traitor to the Talon Organization? That's a pretty big request you know."

"I…"

"I'll save us some time and skip any pretence of there being a sound reason why the man on the screen doesn't get a bullet in his head, so let's get to the personal. Why are you protecting him?"

Sombra just sat there, glaring at him.

"Does it hurt?" Gabriel asked. "Being forced to spill your personal secrets? Well, that's your problem. And you made it my problem when you stalled on the China hack." He leant down, bringing his eyes to hers. "I do hate it when people's problems become my own."

Sombra fought the urge to gag. Behind the mask, she could see his eyes and the skin around them. The latter was withered and scarred. The former were bloodshot.

"Jean and I…we got on," Sombra said.

"A hacker and a grunt. Do tell."

"Nothing serious," she shot back. "But…I dunno. Maybe it was because we were both orphans of the Crisis. Maybe because seeing someone so naive was…"

"Refreshing?"

She shrugged.

"And since he left, you've been searching for him?"

"On and off."

"But more recently."

She nodded.

"Why?"

"Because…" She took a breath, deciding not to lie - she couldn't afford that risk now. "Because Talon's changed in the last month. I guess I found myself…nostalgic." She glared at Gabriel. "I know your secrets too you know. I know what nostalgia did to you last year."

"You're in no position to be making threats."

"I'm not. Just observing."

"A hacker observing anything is a threat." Gabriel drew himself up straight again. "But fine. I appreciate the honesty. I imagine that must have been hard for you."

To Sombra's surprise, he turned round and began to head out.

"So what now?"

"Now?" Gabriel asked. "Now, I'm going to pass on the location of Baptiste to the right people."

Sombra got to her feet. And the mercenary must have heard her do so, because before she could get a word out of her mouth, he began to speak as well.

"Or, I could sit on this," he said. "Provided you do something for me."

_Blackmail. So this is what it feels like. _She forced a smile. "Anything, of course."

"First thing you're going to do is finish the China hack. Get it done within the next two days, or otherwise, our arrangement is off."

Sombra lowered her gaze. "Of course."

"And second of all…well, we all have secrets. And I can keep yours…for a price."

"What price?"

"That's for me to tell you when the time comes." He extended a hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Sombra just stood there. Even if she didn't know what withered skin was under that black glove, she would have been repulsed by the notion of shaking Gabriel Reyes's hand.

"I said, do we have a deal?"

Swallowing, she took it. Fighting back a curse word, she shook it.

"Excellent," he said. "And please refrain from contacting your beloved – I have eyes and ears too you know."

"He's not my beloved," Sombra murmured.

"As someone who's got experience on the subject of love, and in reading people…" Reyes trailed off. "Just do your job," he murmured.

And with that, he headed out.

_Bastard._

She knew what he said was true. That made him hate the man all the more. Men like Gabriel Reyes once had everything, and he'd thrown it away on whatever insane vendetta he was carrying out. The only reason he was with Talon was because its goals could help him achieve his own. She knew it, Akande knew it, everyone knew it. It was just that no-one cared. He'd killed dozens of people so far, and that made Talon happy.

She sat back down, wondering how many people would die when she carried out the hack. At first, not too many. But Akande, for all his faults, was smart. Akande wanted this hack done for a reason. And she, God damn it, was helping him. Helping Talon when up until now, she'd been able to play the mercenary. Now…what the heck was she even doing?

She glanced at the picture of the man in the Dominican Republic. The man she'd known. The man who'd made her laugh. The only one in this damn organization who'd even tried to relate to her, and not just because of the shared trauma of being war orphans. Lip trembling, she reached a hand to the image. Hand trembling, she extended a finger to his face. To his nose.

"Boop," she whispered, tapping it.

She exited the image and returned to the line of code that, once broken, would lead to chaos.

"More lives to ruin then," she whispered.

With heavy heart, she began to type.


End file.
